Pak Un-jong, chairperson of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, announces the joint inspection results on hiring irregularities at public firms and its countermeasures at Government Complex Seoul, Wednesday. / Yonhap

By Park Ji-won

The government announced Wednesday it had found 182 suspected hiring irregularities at 1,205 public companies and institutions, pledging to come up with comprehensive measures to root out corruption there.

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission said it conducted a joint inspection with the finance, interior and labor ministries on employment irregularities at the public entities from November to January, and found 182 cases requiring punishment or police investigation. In 16 cases, favors appeared to have been given to relatives of sitting executives and employees at the public institutions, the commission said.

The commission added that it will request investigations into 36 cases including at the Korea Workers' Compensation & Welfare Service and Seoul National University Hospital and demand disciplinary punishment in the remaining 146 cases. A total of 288 incumbent employees at the public institutions will be subject to investigation or disciplinary punishment, officials added.

"To root out the hiring irregularities, it is necessary to continue our efforts," Pak Un-jong, chairman of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, said Wednesday.

"The government will take reform measures in order to promote fair hiring practices."

The announcement came after the revelation of massive hiring irregularities last year at Seoul Metro, which is an umbrella organization of the Seoul Metropolitan Government. Seoul Metro converted 1,285 contract workers to permanent employment status as of March last year, but 108 of them were allegedly relatives of current and former employees of the public firm, which opposition parties claimed was a form of hiring succession.

The government will push for measures to root out irregularities and strengthen punishment of people involved in corruption. It will also conduct inspections into the hiring practices on a regular basis. Also, 55 job applicants allegedly excluded by these practices will be given job interviews.

The government inspection was focused on employees being hired since 2017, and irregular employees who had changed their status to regular, from January 2014 to October 2018, officials said.